22 January 2009

This is a report from the UK's media regulator, Ofcom, on the future of public service broadcasting, and it matters to us because we a) work with Channel 4 and b) consider animateprojects.org as a form of public service broadcasting... and Arts Council England's submission did indeed encourage the view that "publicly funded media ‘content’ such as the work Arts Council England funds (is) public service broadcasting and media content."

John Wyver articulates our own concerns succinctly on his blog - the report really sticks it to 'arts broadcasting', asserting how the public rated the arts on television as a low priority. But what were the questions exactly? The report refers to 'the arts and classical music' - and if that was how the question was put, I'm sure people might well think how they download all the classical music they need and they don't watch opera on tv...so...score it low. But would people think how that funky AnimateTV programme they saw last night that was right up their alley was an arts programmes, so yes, they're a priority. It's grim - it's surely skewed evidence - but it's evidence for tv bosses to use against us! grrrrrrr.